Short beds- myth?

[motozulli]

I think this was discussed a long long time ago, but I cant find the posts.

The local historical house docents are saying that 19th century beds were so short because people slept propped up so that bad spirits wouldn't enter the body.

Now, I'm pretty sure this isn't true. yes, they sometimes slept propped up, or this 1835 text wouldn't have argued against it:

"the half-sitting posture, with the shoulders considerably raised, is injurious, as the thomeric (?) and abdominal viscera are thereby compressed, and respiration, digestion, and circulation, materially impeded.”

Disraeli, Isaac. Curiosities of Literature, W. Pearson & co. etc etc, New York, 1835. p. 50. Accessed from http://books.google.com on 2007-06-02

But really, why did they sleep that way?

Thanks,

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Short beds- myth?

To save money on sheets with the shorter beds? :)

Seriously, though, that's a bizarre statement for the docents to make. Is there any way to politely, but pointedly, ask for their documentation of the statement? I googled around a bit, but the one page that showed an interesting lead-in was no longer online.

[motozulli]

Re: Short beds- myth?

oh they absolutely don't have documentation (my sister is the docent, and she learned from a long line of misinformed docents...)

I want to get her the right info so she can stop promoting these awful docent myths.

I suspect they slept propped up for some health reason based in pre 19th c. practice, but I can't find any documentation whatsoever for that.

-Alaina

[jacobite8749]

Re: Short beds- myth?

Perhaps shortness of breath, brought on by various illness's, TB (Consumption) Cronic Heart Failure, aftermath of something like Scarlet Fever. I believe it is helpful in heart conditions, so perhapsit was advised then?

[redleggeddevil]

Re: Short beds- myth?

I was a museum interpreter for years (18th century sites primarily) and so dealt with this question regularly. We were always told that people slept propped up with bolsters because of fumes from wood or coal fires in the bedrooms. I don't have any documentation, but it at least seems feasible.

Another thing I found interesting: I made a point of measuring all of those "short" beds, and each one I measured was at least 6 feet long. I am only 5 foot 10, so I would fit on one either propped up or flat on my back. So would the average American of any era.

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: Short beds- myth?

Greetings,
I grew up in a family that was very involved in the fine antique furniture market and historic preservation field. In addition, I have spent a number of years employed in the museum field, working a variety of positions in both traditional and open air institutions.

I'm limited on time this morning, but here are my thoughts on extant 19th century beds from the period that are shorter than modern examples.

1.) It's my understanding that the 19th century may possibly have been a transitional period from where individuals were beginning to get away from sleeping in a reclined position to sleeping as most modern indviduals do today. Much of what I've heard and seen on the subject, suggests that many individuals were sleeping in a reclined manner as they thought it positively contributed to respiratory health. Over the years, I've seen some illustrations dating to the early part of the 19th century showing this practice and have heard a few stories from eldery individuals talking about remembering from thier youth, older family members (grandparents and etc.) still sleeping in this peculiar fashion.

2.) Many beds prior to the industrial revolution were produced locally in cabinet making shops, thus being custom made to fit the shops patrons. After the industrial revolution, it seems more beds were standardized to single, 3/4, double, and etc. I don't know how many times my family over the years has had to have a mattress custom made to fit a "big pimping" late 18th or early/mid 19th century bed. :)

3.) Anthropometric evidence shows that there is little variation between height in modern and historic populations of the 19th century. So, we can rule out that people on average were significantly shorter during the period.

Just a few thoughts on the matter that might add to the discussion. When I get a chance, I'll try to dig around and post some sources.

This is a great thread.

Darrek Orwig

[Hank Trent]

Re: Short beds- myth?

The following is from The Code of Health and Longevity, 1807, at google books:

Those individuals who are subjected to a fulness of blood, an excess of corpulency, short neck, an occasional giddiness and noise of head, or, from hereditary disposition, are justly in fear of apoplexy, should keep themselves under by abstinence, abundant exercise, and abridged sleep, lying lightly clothed in a bed declining to the feet.

Though that's similar to later 19th century advice suggesting elevating the upper body only as a treatment for congestive headache and such, maybe it's an example of elevated sleeping being a general precaution, in an earlier age, for all those with more vague reasons and symptoms.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Chessa]

Re: Short beds- myth?

I had been wondering about this too.

When I went to The White House of the Confederacy a few months ago and they kept saying that, but I was having a very hard time believing that EVERY person in mid 19th C America slept like that....

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Short beds- myth?

I'd be more likely to lean toward the "reduced congestion" train of thought than "escaping fumes from heat sources"--as the fumes would tend to rise, and sleeping elevated would put one in greater risk, rather than lesser.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: Short beds- myth?

From the ever-rich book about boarding houses, from 1857:

[Rob Walker]

Re: Short beds- myth?

I volunteer at a Living History Museum and this topic is discussed and interpeted to the public by explaining the "short" beds in two ways. One, some people believed that they would have an easier time breathing at night in a slightly reclined position similar to us "modern" folks proping up ourselves with pillow, etc. when congested or sickly. Two, most surviving examples of period bed are short becasue people either made or had made a bed for themselves. If the user of the bed was short the bed would be short. In some cases the bed was not used as often as a bed that would be considered average size so the wear and tear of the bed was less assuring it's survival. had the bed been average size, the bed would have been used, possibly anyway, by several people making the wear excessive and making it so that the bed would not survive. I do not have any documentation on this and I am not even sure if this is really the case. I am simply passing on the information that was passed on to me to interpet to the public.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Short beds- myth?

So how short are these beds? We already have one testimony in this thread that some were at least six feet long. What actual lengths are we talking about? For comparison, a modern standard mattress is 75" or 6'3", which is already shorter than the standard modern European mattress of 79" (two meters). Yet I don't think Americans today are 4" shorter or sleep in different positions that Europeans--it's apparently just custom.

While one tends to think of a bed fitting a person, I wonder also about a bed fitting a room. If beds are custom made, and you have a 6' space along the wall between the corner and the door, why not order a bed that's 5'11" long, rather than let that handy space go unused?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Short beds- myth?

I, too, am curious about the dimensions of the beds we are discussing. I slept in an antique rope bed (which I believe to pre-date the war) from the time I was about 7 until I was a teenager. The bed fit a standard double mattress on the ropes, no problem. I had no problems and I didn't sleep "propped up".

Since that time, my wife and I stayed at the Canaan Land Farms B&B near Perryville and Shaker Village and slept in a rope bed with a feather mattress. Again, no problem.

????

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Short beds- myth?

So how short are these beds? We already have one testimony in this thread that some were at least six feet long. What actual lengths are we talking about? For comparison, a modern standard mattress is 75" or 6'3", which is already shorter than the standard modern European mattress of 79" (two meters). Yet I don't think Americans today are 4" shorter or sleep in different positions that Europeans--it's apparently just custom.

While one tends to think of a bed fitting a person, I wonder also about a bed fitting a room. If beds are custom made, and you have a 6' space along the wall between the corner and the door, why not order a bed that's 5'11" long, rather than let that handy space go unused?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

I have a bed that was made in the 1880s and it was too short for a full length mattress. The headboard is 7' tall and the footboard is 4' tall. My father, when he refinished the bed, added 6" to each side rail so that a regular lengh mattress would fit on the bed and the mattress is still a tight fit. There used to be clips in the headboard that held the bolsters in place when they were not being used.

My great grandfather had the bed made and he was at least 6 feet tall.

Speaking of having a bed to fit the space, we also have an antique spool/spindle twin size bed that was behind the door in my grandparent's bedroom. The bed was too long to fit behind the door so they cut the side rails off so that the bed would fit behind the door and my grandmother made a mattress to fit the bed. Many years after it was no longer used in that space, it was left short and finally when the mattress was no longer useable, we finally reaplaced the side rails and used it as regular twin sized bed.

[Csayankee]

Re: Short beds- myth?

Hello All,

Although this not apply to our time period. Plymouth Plantation has always stated that the short beds were not because people were short. But Doctors of the time felt that sleeping reclined will prevent them from swollowing their tongue in their sleep. I know that normally taking words of interupters is a shot in the dark. But their research is always top notch.